This is an edited DTStudy thread, and all messages posted here are subject to editing and deletion.
This thread is intended to serve as a forum for corrections and annotations for the Digital Tradition song named in the title of this thread.
The Digital Tradition has two songs titled "Old Blue," and they're very different from each other. Here's the first one:
OLD BLUE
I had a dog and his name was Blue
I had a dog and his name was Blue
I had a dog and his name was Blue
Betcha five dollars he's a good 'un too
Here Blue, you good dog you
Shouldered my gun and i tooted my horn
Gonna find a possum in the new ground corn
Old Blue barked and I went to see
Cornered a possum up in a tree
Old Blue died and he died so hard
Shook the ground in my backyard
Dug his grave with a silver spade
Lowered him down with links of chain
Every link I did call his name
Here Blue, you good dog you
Here Blue, I'm a-coming there too
@animal
recorded by Joan Baez
filename[ OLDBLUE
TUNE FILE: OLDBLUE
CLICK TO PLAY
SOF
There's not much in the Traditional Ballad Index about these songs:
Old Blue DESCRIPTION: "I had a dog and his name was Blue...." The singer tells how Blue aided him in 'possum hunting, then goes on to describe Blue's death and burial.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913
KEYWORDS: dog death burial hunting
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 295, "Old Blue" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownIII 220, "Old Blue" (1 text)
Hudson 74, pp. 201-202, "Old Blue" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 7, "Old Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-Singing, pp. 111-112, "Old Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 157, "Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 738, "Old Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 396, "Old Blue" (1 text)
DT, OLDBLUE
Roud #4313
RECORDINGS:
Jim Jackson, "Old Dog Blue" (Victor 21387B, 1928; on AAFM2) (Vocalion 1146, 1928)
Pete Seeger, "Old Blue" (on PeteSeeger09, PeteSeegerCD02)
Art Thieme, "The Split Dog" [combines song and tall-tale] (on Thieme01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Deep Blue Sea (II)" (floating lyrics)
File: R295
Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
Baez singing "Old Blue": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojDQ3DwJ7lY. This recording shows the Baez soprano voice when she was at her peak. Wow!
Dave Van Ronk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC6KQ8n-JlM
The Byrds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbuQDqnMebk
The Dillards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMw2Fdylb4E (very different from Baez, but still more-or-less the same version)
Here's a talented young woman named Caroline Jones. Some may not like the reverb, but I think I do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GscJeXvGobk
Here's Caroline Jones, with harmonica and without reverb. I like this better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccKIeeN6CLA - she has a beautiful voice, and doesn't need reverb.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7n1m3oq7uk
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